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Accutane is a form of vitamin A. It reduces the amount of oil released by oil glands in your skin, and helps your skin renew itself more quickly. Accutane*is used to treat severe nodular acne.

My issue is my back. I've dealt with it on and off for a handful of years. My dermatologist has given me antibiotics, creams, etc to no avail. This is the final option but in doing some research and talking to a few people it does freak me out a bit. I'm going to dry up like a raisin sitting in the sun. I'll need lotion, lips balm and vaseline on stand by which is whatever but it's the potential mood swings that has me most concerned. You can fall into depression and even have suicidal thoughts. I'm scheduled to get blood work done so I can get approved for the treatment and was wondering if anyone here has taken it before?

Diet change instead of medicine? Something like try a week only on fresh veg ( a lot of carrots), fruits, yoghurt and oats with zero salt and zero additional oil/dressing and see if your skin gets better? I mean diet change is tough, but if the alternative is to take medicine.....

And with medicine...... I don't have any experience with accutane. But generally if you are scared of side effects, I would try with smaller dosage than prescribed for few days and really really observe yourself. If you notice any side effects you can't cope with on a smaller dosage then immediately talk to your doc.

I have been improving my diet to a degree recently but my skin really produces oil by the barrel so it's still an issue regardless :/ My dermatologist doesn't think a diet overhaul would clear this issue up completely the way I want either.

My son is almost finished taking it. He's in month 7. Facial acne completely disappeared after 3-4 months. Chest and back take much longer. Only now has it faded to minor red spots. His only side-effect is dry lips.

Without a health plan that covers it, accutane and the monthly blood tests and doctor visits will get expensive (up to a total of $2K for complete treatment).

I was still breaking out moderately bad when I was 23, so I finally decided to pull the trigger and get on Accutane. Cleared me up completely within like four to five months. Wish I would've done it sooner.

My acne wasn't severe by any means, but still having breakouts in your 20s is super annoying. I was pretty nervous/worried with all of the horror stories you read online. The only side effect I had was the really dry lips. Aquaphor helps a lot with that.

So yeah, I wouldn't hesitate if I were you. I think some of the really negative side effects are overstated quite a bit. There's still a lot of debate whether there's any relationship at all with accutane and depression/suicide.

I took it when I was a teenager and it completely cleared me up. I had dry lips, couldn't go anywhere without chapstick but that was the biggest side effect for me. As for the depression stuff you know the deal, only you can really answer if taking the risk is worth it. Personally if I had just had back acne I don't think I would have bothered, mine was on my face and it was bad.

I was still breaking out moderately bad when I was 23, so I finally decided to pull the trigger and get on Accutane. Cleared me up completely within like four to five months. Wish I would've done it sooner.

My acne wasn't severe by any means, but still having breakouts in your 20s is super annoying. I was pretty nervous/worried with all of the horror stories you read online. The only side effect I had was the really dry lips. Aquaphor helps a lot with that.

So yeah, I wouldn't hesitate if I were you. I think some of the really negative side effects are overstated quite a bit. There's still a lot of debate whether there's any relationship at all with accutane and depression/suicide.

I think you have to balance up the pros and cons. I would be hesitant to take something if depression was a possible side effect as depression can be extremely debilitating. As it's just on your back I'd probably not go on it, but if you do really try and monitor yourself to ensure your mental health stays good. It just depends how much of an impact the back acne is having on you. I had a friend who went on it as he had really bad facial acne and it worked really well with no major issues. I hope you can get it sorted as I think having bad skin would probably mess pretty badly with your confidence.

Not crippling my life but depending on the time of year there are situations where I have no confidence in taking my shirt off. That's mentally crippling around family, friends and people in general.

To be a little bit flippant I have experienced back acne for a long time. The best thing to clear it up for me was the sun, but that was back in the day when it wasn’t totally insane to get a sun tan. I wouldn’t advise that to anyone now.

If you find it to mak3 you extremely self conscious on a semi regular basis you have to determine what is best for you. It is not a joke in terms of potential impact and side effects but you could try it and stop using it if the side effects were too much.

How old are you by the way? Depending on your current age you are likely to outgrow the worst of it. I think if you are cognizant of the side effects and take a cautious approach and a doctor who is knowledgeable and supportive.

Taking blood tests for a fairly commonly prescribed medicine is not common. If you were suffering really bad facial acne I definitely would lean towards taking it. I was fortunate I never really had that problem and just had relatively mild chest and back acne.

I'm 29 that's the kicker. As for bloodwork the information they get from that is going to determine how they dose me and they want to make sure certain levels check out. I'm not sure what the doctor said verbatim but it was something along those lines.

Thanks for all the responses though guys this is good stuff, a lot to think about. I'll be sure to keep this updated, especially if I do end up ultimately taking it.

Also the acne I have on my back to paint a better picture are tons and tons of blackheads. Literally every pore on my body if you got right up on me is clogged up. The worst of it though are these swelling bumps I get. Not standard whiteheads but borderline cyst type bumps that hurt if you touch them or move the wrong way. Red and inflamed, it's as if an entire cluster of pores combined to form a super bump . I know you're not supposed to pop anything but these bad boys aren't even poppable. They have to run their course. It sucks, especially if you get a bad one in the right spot on your back. Ouch town.

Accutane used to be a chemotherapy to kill brain cancers. There's a good chance it causes mass cell death in the brain. There's a reasonable chance it will change your personality. There's really no way to reliably measure these kinds of effects yet, so the FDA won't and can't catch these kinds of problems.

I know a couple of girls who took accutance when they were younger. They have poor self control and emotional regulation. Whether this is related to accutane, I have no idea, but messing with your brain/personality for the sake of your vanity seems pretty dumb.

A study in the American Journal of Psychiatry used PET and MRI scans to measure brain activity of patients using Accutane. The results were startling. There was an average 21 percent decrease in orbitofrontal cortex activity. The orbitofrontal cortex is involved in decision-making and cognitive processing. In other words, the area of your brain where your personality lives does not function efficiently.

Accutane is a Retinoid. Retinoids control cell growth, cell differentiation and cell death (in certain tissues).